Still Time For A New Year's Eve Swap?
Dear Key to Home Exchange,
I have always wanted to ring in the New Year in New York City but the Manhattan hotel room prices I'm seeing for New Year's Eve start at $400 per night for the two-star hotels and go past $1,000 for hotels in Times Square where the ball drops. Plus, I want to bring my teen daughter and her friend so we will be pretty crowded. I heard about home exchange and it sounds like a good way for us to have a weekend in New York and save money. Is it too late to find a home exchange for New Year's Eve?
Linda from PA
Dear Linda,
There are lots of New Yorkers who want to escape the New Year's Eve crowds. As you suspected, a request for a home swap within one month of your preferred swap dates is known as a "last-minute exchange". Finding a last-minute swap for what may be the most sought-after weekend for home exchange to New York City will be challenging, but there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of successfully landing this prized swap.
WHY SWAP HOMES?
Before you even start, however, you need to make sure you are exchanging for the right reasons. The cost of a hotel room is never a good enough reason to do home exchange. Remember, the swappers will be in your home, in your bed in fact. Are you excited about the prospect of making your home an inviting retreat for your swap partners to enjoy? If not, you are not looking for an equal exchange, just a way to save money. Home exchange needs to be a mutual exchange between two families. The goal is to share your home and community with someone from another city or country. You are a good candidate for home exchange if you look forward to welcoming your exchange partners into your home and ensuring that they have a fun vacation.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
A last-minute swap is much easier to find if you live near your target destination. I am not sure where in Pennsylvania you live, but many attractive parts of PA are less than a two-hour drive from New York City. Let exchangers know how convenient it is to get to your place from Manhattan.
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
Telling potential Manhattan swap partners that you are contacting them for a last-minute exchange because hotel rooms are too expensive is not likely to get you an enthusiastic response. New Yorkers already know that hotel rooms are expensive. Focusing on your desire to save money tells potential swap partners "I will treat your home like a cheap hotel room". Instead, look at your offer from the point of view of the people you are approaching. Your offer email should communicate that exchanging with you will be a fun vacation for the exchangers, not just a cheap night out on the town for you.
APPEAL TO THE JADED
Spending New Year's Eve in a huge crowd of happy tourists from all over the world may appeal to, well, tourists, but New Yorkers have to navigate such crowds every day. Fleeing the throngs for a quieter, more intimate celebration in your town could be just the thing a jaded New Yorker wants this New Year's Eve.
If you live in a rural environment you can offer the city resident a relaxing break from the busy city. Make sure to include a photo of your winter wonderland, and your cozy fireplace if possible.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
As a group, Manhattan home exchangers get more offers than swappers in any other destination. This is in part due to the high cost of hotel rooms that you noticed during your New Year's Eve vacation research. Another factor is the petite size of the average Manhattan hotel room which, as you noted, might not even be large enough to sleep three people. Manhattan home exchangers have received all sorts of swap offers. Make yours stand out.
UP THE ANTE
What can you add to the swap to sweeten the deal? That restaurant gift certificate you never used means you can offer the exchangers an elegant New Year's Eve dining experience to go along with their stay in your beautiful home.
The majority of New York City residents do not own a car. Let them know right in the initial offer that they are welcome to use your vehicle as part of the swap. If you drive to the New York City swap home then allow the exchangers to drive your car back to use your home you will save the expense and hassle of trying to park in Manhattan, provide an easy way for exchangers to get to your place for the swap and make the exchange more attractive to the swappers. In fact, you may find exchangers who will let your use their home in exchange for the use of your car to visit a location other than your swap home. It couldn't hurt to make the offer.
Do you have something else to include in the swap offer, other than your home? New York City residents almost never have a place to park a recreational vehicle or moor a boat, but they may know how to operate one and want the use of your RV or boat in exchange for their apartment.
SHARE A PIED A TERRE
Many New York City apartments are "pied a terre" second homes. Note which listings mention or link to other homes. It's a good bet that you have found a home available for non-simultaneous exchange. That means the swap home is unoccupied so the owners may be more open to a last-minute exchange. If your place will be free during other dates later in the year, make sure to mention that swappers can choose to use your home over New Year's or at another time they might find more convenient.
EXPAND YOUR SEARCH
Manhattan is just one of New York City's five boroughs. Some areas of Brooklyn and Queens are just as close to the Times Square festivities as the northern and southern tips of Manhattan island. The New York City subway and bus system runs 24-hours each day, including New Year's Eve. You will also generally find larger homes outside of Manhattan's core neighborhoods.
THERE'S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR
You may have started too late to find the perfect last-minute New Year's Eve swap for 2009 but this Spring is a great time to start your hunt for a 2010 New Year's Eve exchange. Use the tips above no matter when or where you hunt for a home exchange and you are sure to have a great home exchange experience.
About RoofSwap.com:
RoofSwap.com is one of the leading home exchange websites with over +14,000 listings in 128 countries. Home Exchange is the vacation alternative where two families agree to swap homes for a vacation ("you stay in my house while I stay in yours.")
Roofswap.com provides easy to use, friendly and the most secure home exchange platform in the industry. The founders of the site are avid home exchangers with more than 46 years of house swapping experience. They understand that home swappers want to be part of a large network that allows them diverse travel opportunities, so they combined the power of several sites and developed the most intuitive interface to make house swapping simple, fun and secure.
by: Ranan Follow Through On Your Travel Commitments History Of Taj Mahal How To Reach Taj Mahal Luxury Hotels In Agra, India Nearby Places From Taj Mahal Places Of Interest In Agra Restaurants In Agra Shopping & Cuisine In Agra The Trident Agra The Indian Culture Tourist Destination Agra Nosara Costa Rica - A Natural Beauty Developments In Airline Industry Benefits Consumers